1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cooker. More particularly, the present invention relates to a compact cooker for boiling a first food product, such as rice, and for steaming a second food product, such as vegetables, at the same time.
2. Description of the Related Art
Compact devices for cooking are known in the art. A cooker such as, for example, a boiler of the type shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,189,947 to Yim, are known to cook food items such as, for example, rice and vegetables by boiling the food items. These types of boilers have a reservoir. The reservoir is circular in shape and can contain an amount of water therein. The food items are placed in water contained in the reservoir and are cooked by heating the water.
Other types of cooking devices, called steamers, use steam to cook a food product. A steamer generally has a reservoir that is circular in shape. A container is located in the reservoir. A support is disposed on a bottom of the reservoir to support the container in the reservoir above an amount of water in the reservoir. The water is heated to a boil by a heater to create steam. The container has a number of apertures therein to allow steam produced in the reservoir to pass through the bottom of the container and cook the food located in the container.
However, the devices discussed above either boil or steam food. The boiler cooks its food items by boiling. The steamer cooks its food items by steaming. It is inefficient and costly to separately operate a boiler and a steamer contemporaneously with one another.
Cooking with a dedicated steamer and a dedicated boiler simultaneously, in order to cook by steam and by boiling, requires purchasing, cooking, cleaning, and storing each of the boiler and the steamer. The user must learn the operating procedure(s) involved with each of the cooking devices. Also, the user must coordinate the cooking times of food being cooked by each device in order to complete the boiling and the steaming processes simultaneously.
Thus, there exist a need for a cooking device that can cook food items by boiling and by steaming the food items.